Buildings, monuments and spaces that are important to young people and
the contribution of the historic built environment to young people’s sense of
place
David Bradley, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS),
Newcastle University
Introduction
In 2010 a team lead by David Bradley and Mike Coombes in CURDS was commissioned by
English Heritage to explore the importance and value of the historic environment to young
people aged 14-16 (referred to here as “teenagers”). The aim was to understand better what
young people think about the historic built environment, and to explore how this links with a
stronger sense of place, which is widely held to be beneficial to both the teenagers
themselves and society in general.
A key starting-point was an earlier study1 for English Heritage in which 750 13/14 year olds
were surveyed. An extensive literature review2 carried out in consort with that study found
there was virtually no earlier work on the views of young people on their local environment.
The new study, whose results are summarised here, involved over 900 teenagers attending
21 state maintained schools along with 54 teenagers attending 7 Pupil Referral Units
(PRUs). The schools and PRUs were carefully selected to ensure they were in areas with
different catchment area characteristics, and across different parts of England.
Research Methodology
Three sets of data were sought from participating teenagers:
 a desk based self-completion questionnaire, developed from that used in 2009
 a form identifying up to five buildings that are important to them

up to five geo-tagged photographs
Participating schools were given just one GPS enabled camera for every ten participating
teenagers. This meant the exercise had to be implemented over several weeks with
considerable effort on behalf of the teachers to collate and hand out the cameras to the
various participating pupils. The use of GPS-enabled cameras for research of this kind is
innovative and was recognised at the outset to be experimental. Involving teenagers in the
taking of photographs generally was a real success: however our emphasis on trying to
ensure that photographs were geo-tagged using the cameras purchased for the study was a
complication that reduced the numbers able to take photographs of their chosen buildings,
1
Bradley et al (2009) Sense of Place and Social Capital and the Historic Built Environment
English Heritage, London
2 Graham et al (2009) Literature Review: Historic Environment, Sense of Place, and Social
Capital English Heritage, London
monuments or spaces. That said, the study generated a database of approaching 2,000
photographs, of which the majority (1,055) were successfully geo-tagged and used in the
analysis of where ‘important’ buildings, monuments and spaces are located in relation to
where young people live.
All the cited buildings and places were researched by the study team to estimate their age
and identify which are listed as of historical or architectural importance.
Buildings, monuments and spaces important to young people
Teenagers participating in the study were asked by their teachers to complete a
questionnaire as part of a classroom based exercise to consider what buildings monuments
and spaces:

they felt to be distinctive or special

made them proud of where they live

they felt attached to

they disliked
Having completed the questionnaire the teenagers were then asked to identify what five
buildings, monuments and spaces are most important to them in their local area and
describe why they were important. In the case of these building the teenagers borrowed a
GPS enabled camera to take a digital photo of each of them. Provided the GPS capability of
the cameras was successfully activated the precise co-ordinates of where the photos was
taken was recorded along with the image of the building, monument or place considered to
be of importance. By ‘geo-tagging’ the location of the photographs in this way and giving
each photo a unique reference including the name of the school and the home post code of
the teenager it was possible to identify the approximate location of these buildings in relation
to the location of the teenager’s home and their school.
Shops, cafes, leisure facilities as anticipated feature strongly among the buildings
monuments and spaces considered important by young people. Although historic buildings
are by no means ‘top of the agenda’ for teenagers when they think about their local area.,
the majority of young people (58%) cited at least one listed building among the local
buildings, monuments and places which they said were important to them.
The following table provides some examples of the reasons teenagers gave when citing a
building or space as important to them, showing how five categories of reasons each include
a range of broadly related factors that make a building or site important from the viewpoint of
a teenager.
Categories
Examples
Historic / Famous
“This is where the world’s first test tube baby was delivered by Patrick
Steptoe. How cool is that and yes it's in Oldham!”
“Part of the history of Bibury and a beautiful historic building in keeping
with the other picturesque houses”.
“It represents history and heritage. It’s a symbol of Bradford’s textile
industry”
“I love old buildings. This was recently on fire and it broke my heart
when they announced that it was going to be demolished”
Unique / Attractive /
Landmark / Distinctive
“Magnificent building on the horizon. You can see the whole of Exeter
from it”
New feature to Exmouth and is a nice eye appealing structure and
building”
“Unusual, recognisable, makes Gateshead famous”
“It's the strangest looking house and its beautiful”
Memories
“it was my primary school where I was very happy”
“My dad used to work here and I used to visit him”
“I went there nearly every other day when I lived in Hitchin”
Personal use / Religious
use / Meeting friends
“Go shopping and a good place to chill”
“Bebe nanaki gudwara is important to me is because it is mine and my
family’s main place of worship”
“Meeting place for me and my mates”
“I go there when the weather is nice and walk my dog”
Wider community use
“Great place for social events of all ages”
“Every village wedding, funeral, christening happens here”
Historic buildings and monuments also form a part of those buildings, monuments and
spaces in the local area which:
 teenagers think are distinctive or special
 make teenagers proud of where they live
 make teenagers feel attached to where they live.
The reason given most frequently by teenagers as to why they were proud of buildings was
personal use. The only other very widely stated reasons were related to historical
significance, fame or attractiveness.
The reason for identifying a building, monument or space as distinctive or special that
teenagers gave most frequently was its historic character. The second most widely given
reason was their personal use of it, followed by a set of reasons related to fame,
attractiveness or architecture.
Outdoor spaces proved to be very important in making teenagers attached to their
area. The most frequently cited type of place was parks (16% of all responses), with open
spaces (such as fields and woods) along with beaches also frequently named. Among
building types, shops were the most frequently cited. As a result, historic buildings,
churches and other religious buildings were less prominent in these responses.
Where important buildings, monuments and spaces are located relative to where
young people live
Most buildings, monuments and spaces that are important to young people are relatively
close to where they live. The average distance to important buildings was just over 2 miles
(3.4km). For teenagers living in more historic areas, this distance was lower on average. It
was also lower for those living in more deprived neighbourhoods. That said, the size of these
spatial ‘footprints’ vary greatly between individuals.
Teenagers belonging to minority ethnic groups have an average ‘footprint’ little more than
half the size of that of the majority group. The implications of this for engagement with ethnic
minority groups are less clear cut, because of the minority groups’ spatial concentration in
inner city areas where all types of teenager tended to travel less far. Map 1 illustrates this in
the case of teenagers from Holyhead School in Handsworth (Birmingham). It can be seen
that many of the teenagers live within a 1 km ring around the school. The large majority of
the geo-tagged photographs (and also the buildings, monuments or spaces chosen as
important) are located either in these nearby areas or in Birmingham city centre which is not
far distant.
Map 1 Teenager and geo-tagged photograph locations (with sample images):
Handsworth
The inner city situation can be contrasted with that in very rural areas. Map 2 shows the
evidence of teenagers in Lady Manners School (Bakewell) which serves a wide hinterland in
the Peak District. Many of the teenagers at this school live in small villages some distance
from the school but have chosen to take photos close to their homes. Others have a much
greater level of mobility because they have selected buildings and spaces considerable
distances from their homes. The overall effect is that the photos have been taken over a vast
area, but this primarily reflects the large dispersed catchment of a school serving remote
rural areas.
Map 2 Teenager and geo-tagged photograph locations (with sample images):
Bakewell
Map 3 shows the case of Exmouth College where most of the teenagers live either in a
residential part of Exmouth or in one of the surrounding villages. Most of the photographs
come from the town’s seafront or centre, with just a few of iconic sites outside the town (such
as the National Trust property nearby – A la Ronde – or the cathedral in Exeter).
Map 3 Teenager and geo-tagged photograph locations (with sample images):
Exmouth
The role of the historic built environment in teenagers’ sense of place
This study refreshed and extended the CURDS led study in 2009 for English Heritage which
included an assessment of the strength of teenagers’ sense of place and the importance of
the historic built environment in understanding variation in the level of sense of place among
teenagers. The findings are based on analysing the responses to a questionnaire which was
a development of the one used in 2009.
The strength of a teenager’s sense of place was measured by analysing their responses
(positive or negative) to the same seven statements that were in the survey last year.
The area where I live means a lot to me
I could be equally happy living somewhere else
I really feel I belong to my area
I would rather live somewhere else
I am proud of where I live
I am interested in the history of my area
I care about what my area looks like
The teenagers were asked whether they:
strongly agreed
agreed
neither agreed nor disagreed
disagreed with each of the seven statements.
disagreed
strongly
The overall pattern of the results is very similar to that from the previous year’s survey and
this helps boost confidence in the survey method. It is also notable that the two surveys
yielded very similar average strength of sense of place (SP), despite the teenagers surveyed
by this study being one year older, when it is understood that older teenagers are less likely
to have positive views about their areas.
As the 2009 research showed, the way to separate out the most influential factors is to
statistically ‘model’ the relationship between levels of SP on the one hand and, on the other,
the characteristics of the teenagers as individuals, together with the features of the areas
where they live. The following diagram illustrates how the role of the historic built
environment as an influence on SP can be seen as part of a complex set of influential
factors. The statistical model then aims to identify the level of influence of each of these
factors.
Main hypothesised links between the key factors [
= the modelled links ]
The built environment is influential in shaping teenagers’ sense of place even after
numerous other factors have been taken into account. Those who thought more about their
local built environment – they valued historic/attractive buildings nearby and/or they had
cited a local building or place they thought was important to the area – had higher SP levels
on average. Thinking their area was more historic – which generally was linked with the
study’s GIS-based measure of how far the area actually has more listed buildings – also
increased their sense of place. It also emerges that a higher SP is associated with
remembering a recent non-school visit to a historic building.
These results clearly reinforce the findings of the 2009 study that fostering interest in the
historic built environment can enhance the sense of place of teenagers.
Engaging young people with their local environment and the historic environment in
particular
The Audit Commission (2009)3 recommended that English Heritage should research
community profiles around its properties and analyse the range of visitors each attracts.
Having identified the properties with the most potential, it should then produce an action plan
to increase community engagement at each property so as increase the impact it can have
in pursuit of the above aims. This study tested a number of methods, and outlined possible
resources, which the local schools around English Heritage managed properties could be
encouraged to use to increase the level of local engagement.
3
Audit Commission (2009) Promoting Participation with the Historic Environment Report by the
Comptroller and Auditor General HC 881 Session 2008-2009, 22 July 2009
It was clear that through some combination of class discussions, conversations with parents
and peers and their own research that young people of all abilities were interested enough to
increase their knowledge of local heritage and their sense of place through the type of
engagement activities included in the study. Even some of those excluded from mainstream
education enjoyed learning about their local area.
The single factor most likely to lead a teenager to name a building as in some way important
to them is that they use it personally, followed by memories relating to that building
monument or space. Personal use, whether current or past, was the reason given by
teenagers for more than 3 in 5 (63%) of the buildings, monuments or spaces that are
important to them.
In general, it was found that teenagers who live in more deprived neighbourhoods:

have a lower sense of place

are less likely to be proud of a listed building

are less likely to consider a listed building to be distinctive or special

have less listed buildings in the area where they live

are less likely to have visited a historic building, whether as part of a school trip or not.

have more localised ‘footprints’ in terms of the buildings they photographed.
Thus a reduced level of engagement with the historic built environment is linked with this
issue of relative poverty. Teenagers from ethnic minorities were not found to be
substantially less engaged with the historic environment than white British teenagers in
similar neighbourhoods.
The findings of this research suggest that English Heritage, if it seeks to maximise the value
to young people of its properties, might increase the number of events that will interest
teenagers so as to leave memories for those participating. Areas of policy to consider might
be reduced price entry for local young people, or perhaps certain times and days of the week
when they would get free entry. Some facilities could be made available at minimal hire rates
that the local community.
A model of local engagement along such lines could be piloted by English Heritage then
rolled out more widely by pro-active work with local partners, not least to reach areas where
English Heritage has few if any properties. More generally, English Heritage might work with
partners to develop materials to improve teenagers’ appreciation of their local heritage,
especially linked to events and people which have made the local area famous.
A final, more speculative, possibility was that local schools and teenagers could contribute to
the development of ‘local listing’ criteria which are under discussion in some areas. Some
combination of the engagement methods in this study, including forms of fieldwork and/or
class discussion, would raise awareness of the local built environment and those aspects
that are most valued.